The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.

Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.

This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.

This report examines the recent legislative history of proposed constitutional amendments to require a balanced budget. It provides a detailed description of committee and floor consideration during the 104th and 105th Congresses, as well as a brief account of previous consideration, and a list of recent hearings and committee reports on the subject.